Sunday, September 28, 2014

A sale for Opie Cat Devlin

Hi all!

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Opie got sick this weekend and I had to take her to the emergency vet. As you can imagine, without a job the cost was even harder to bear than usual. I have already paid $518 and will be looking at $125 more minimum. So I am having a 20% off sale in my shop until September 30th. Coupon code is OPIE20. Please, if you have been considering a purchase, could you make it now, thank you. I love you all! Shop link is on the right.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Around the World Blog Hop

Katie from Karma Willow Designs nominated me for the Around the World Blog Hop. I met Katie through our friend Teri. She has an amazing ability to get a ton of sewing done, I am often quite envious of her many finishes!This has been a fun way to learn more about old friends and to discover some new ones. I’ll answer some questions below and then will add my nominations at the end.

1. What am I working on? 

My main item at the moment is a Yoko Saito quilt for the World Book Media booth at Quilt Market at the end of October. I jumped at the chance to be able to make the sample… that was before the reality of almost 800 little pieces hit LOL!

IMG_2866 I was originally hand piecing it but decided to try paper piecing the rounds last night… it took more than 3 hours for one (there are 9 total) but I still think it might be faster.

Otherwise I am trying to get little bits of new stock in to the store at times and am still making some mini’s for friends.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre? 

I don’t think I am that different from others, except maybe that I like to create small items, whether a mini quilt or tiny piecing. I use a lot of Liberty of London fabrics but that is no longer rare with the many Liberty of London stash clubs one can join lately.

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3. Why do I write/create what I do? 

I do it because for the first time in my life I feel “right”. This is what I love, what my passion is, and stopping would be like cutting my arm off. The joy of a newly finished piece, especially one with a new technique, is incomparable.

4. How does my writing/creating process work?

I doodle ideas a lot… most don’t get made. I find that it works best if I have a reason to make something (hence all the mini gifts recently) and then it gets done in a short period of time. If I spend too long on something chances are it will be put aside and likely never seen again lol! 

So now it's time to let you know who I draw inspiration from 

Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs – If you recall, Cheryl was the friend I just completed a swap with. She is a prolific pattern writer and I love how doable she makes all her patterns, I hope you enjoy checking her out.

Ginette from The Quilting Princess РGinette is someone I know in person as we are in the Ottawa Modern Quilt Guild together. I really enjoy her work as she tries a lot of different things such as her traditional needle turn appliqu̩ quilt she is working on. She also is always full of encouragement and positive vibes :) Enjoy learning about her :)

These two lovely ladies will be posting their posts on the 29th, so keep an eye out :)

Monday, September 15, 2014

Some mini’s

Lately I have been having a lot of fun making surprise gifts for friends. I always have a list in my head of people that I would like to give something to. It could be in thanks, for an occasion, or just to brighten their day. Here are some of the recent ones below.

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This one was actually a swap with my friend Cheryl. It is Liberty and Essex Linen. I loved making it but it did take quite awhile, each block has 36 little pieces in it.

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 This one is based off my friend Rachel’s tutorial called Raspberry Kiss. I cut into my much loved Cotton + Steel for this one, along with low volume for the backgrounds. This will be sent out in the future so I can’t tell you to whom yet.

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This I sent to my friend Kira. She so kindly sent me a Starbucks You Are Here mug after I commented how much I really wanted one and so I wanted her to know how much it meant to me. This was based off of a Fresh Mini Quilt Club pattern. It was extremely hard to photograph, I don’t know if it was the soft colours. I normally am not a pink girl at all but for some reason that is what ended up happening.

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This is a pillow I made for my friend Karen’s birthday. This was beyond fun to make! It was my first time really using partial seams and it worked like a charm! Karen is pretty darn awesome and I wanted her to know that! This is from Stitch Supply Co.'s Mini Banner Day Quilt.

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And finally, these are some coasters for a friend. As they also haven’t been sent out yet I can’t name the person. But she is a generous, kind soul, and I think she will love these!

I will have more coming as I have more in the works, but right now my main goal is to finish a Yoko Saito pattern for Quilt Market display. It has approximately 800 tiny pieces to it!

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The finished quilt will be 37 3/4” x 37 3/4”!
Hope you all are having a great Monday!